The oxidative stability of raw meat and cooked meat products is of great importance to the livestock and meat processing industries. At present, freezing, antioxidant supplementation, and packaging are the primary methods for deterring oxidative deterioration of cooked meat products. However, these methods—whether used alone or in combination—do not necessarily provide adequate initial product quality or shelf life. Cooked meat products in particular are vulnerable to the development of warmed over flavor (WOF) which is largely a consequence of lipid oxidation. This deterioration can result in the development of off-flavors that render the product unpalatable and unsalable.
The antioxidant rosemary extract (RE) is currently used by meat processors to improve meat oxidative stability, especially in precooked products. Commercially available rosemary extracts are generally added to the meat product prior to cooking, and can result in improved initial product quality (e.g., flavor and color) and increased shelf life.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. previously has demonstrated that meat derived from animals fed a high oleic-acid/high-tocol (HO/HT) diet exhibits improved meat quality, including oxidative stability. (See U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/153,463 herein incorporated in it's entirety by reference.) Applicants have demonstrated that cooked meat derived from animals fed a high oleic/high tocol diet and subsequently formulated with a non-tocol antioxidant (NTAO) such as rosemary extract (RE) exhibits greater oxidative stability than meat derived from animals fed a high oleic/high tocol diet alone. We have further demonstrated that RE also improves the oxidative stability of meat derived from animals fed either a HO or HT diet.
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for improving the tissue quality of an animal with respect to meat quality.
It is a further object to improve the quality of precooked meat product, especially its appearance (as measured by color), sensory characteristics and oxidative stability.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method for improving fresh and precooked meat shelf life that is a more desirable alternative or a complement to existing refrigeration and packaging methods.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of improving meat quality comprising supplementing the animal feed with both oleic acid and tocols and then treating the meat with certain other non-tocol antioxidants such as rosemary extract.
Further and additional objects will appear from the description and appended claims.